In 2018 we released our first major GlassWire Android update. We were fortunate that our fans loved the app and we were proud to have a 4.8 rating in Google Play!
Then later in 2019 Android 10 was released by Google. Unfortunately Google made it impossible for us to graph network data in real-time due to unexpected changes with an API we used. As our user base updated their phones to the latest Android OS versions they would find real-time data would no longer update reliably and our ratings fell.
We opened a ticket with Google and they marked it as “won’t fix”. We also found that Google made it impossible for us to block data by WiFi only, or Mobile only with our firewall.
Then even worse, many phones would kill our app completely so it couldn’t count accurately, or count at all in some cases. We were not the only developers with this issue either. It was a very difficult, sad, and stressful time for our team.
We could have given up, but instead we decided to completely rewrite the GlassWire Android app from scratch and make it super light and accurate, and that’s what we did!
We’re excited to announce that our major Android update is now available this morning in Google Play!
While the new app doesn’t show real-time stats due to limitations made by Google, it’s now super light and it should always count data perfectly!
It also has an awesome new bubble effect that shows what apps are using your data.
Plus, our 3.0 GlassWire update should never get killed, no matter how angry your phone is at it! This is due to how light the new GlassWire app now runs and how little resources it uses.
The firewall has now also changed where you can create firewall profiles. Create one profile for WiFi, and another for Mobile. It’s super easy to use!
The updated firewall can also allow or deny connections from newly installed apps. Ever have an app immediately use up your data immediately on install? This should never happen again if “allow or deny” mode is switched to “on” with GlassWire’s updated firewall.
Like dark themes? We know how important it is to have a dark theme these days, so we have included one dark theme for free for all Android users who use our app. And of course paid users get access to a bunch of different dark and light themes!
We have also rewritten our “speed meter” feature to make it work for the latest Android OS versions. Rewriting the speed meter was major work for us so we have made this one of our paid features going forward.
GlassWire for Android is an ad-free tracking-free app. In fact our app can’t access the network at all! Check our privacy policy for details on how we can’t access your stats at all because they never leave your phone.
We feel it’s important to be one of the few data management apps on Android that doesn’t track users, or fill up their phones with ads.
Since we have no ads we depend on our fans paying a few dollars to support our work. We’re grateful for those that decided to do so, but even if you don’t purchase GlassWire, our app is extremely powerful even with its free functionality and it will never expire or stop working.
Almost a million people have used our Android app to stay under data limits, reveal data wasters, and save money on their data plans!
GlassWire (free or paid) will always reveal data wasting apps, or suspicious app behavior. Our app will alert you any time a newly installed app starts using data. Plus we now have new more accurate data plans that track roaming, have zero rated app options, and can keep track of roll-over minutes. Monitoring data usage is especially important with new 5G phones that are using data faster than ever!
And of course if you don’t like apps tracking you or wasting your precious data without your permission use our paid firewall to instantly block them.
Why do many free “Data Usage” apps use data themselves?
We discovered a lot of these free data usage collection apps exist
solely to collect your personal app usage data to sell to advertisers or
other app developers. We did not want to use a data usage app that was
logging details about every app we use to share it with third parties.
In what database was our private app usage data being stored, and what
if that database was hacked or made public? To make matters worse, we
found that at least one of these applications collected personally
identifiable information.
Is your current “Data Usage” app tracking you?
Do you want your phone app usage logged in a database then linked to
your identity so others can see details about how you use your phone
every day? We didn’t want that either. Check the privacy policy of the
data usage app you currently use by going to their Google Play app page
“privacy policy”.
GlassWire is a data usage app that helps protect your privacy.
Your GlassWire data usage and app usage information never leaves your phone. We could not see or access your app usage even if we wanted to. Plus, we’re not an advertising or marketing company. We only make money through sales of premium versions of our software.
Thanks for trying our major update out and if you enjoy the update please consider leaving a review on Google Play or subscribing!
Give GlassWire 3.0 for Android a try now!
We’d really like to hear your feedback and we are grateful for bug reports. If you find any issues please tap the bottom right menu inside the app itself and choose “send feedback”. Or join our forum to discuss GlassWire 3.0 for Android!
Sincerely, The GlassWire Team
